shane@detailedreflections

Wish we were in that area. We would hook it up!

Sounds like high spots. So yes, polish and reapply unfortunately.

You can use their carpet and upholstery cleaner. Spray it on, agitate it with a brush. Then extract using the extractor with plain water. No solutions clogging nozzles or lines. No worry about what’s in the tank. If you want something extractor specific, you’ll probably look outside of Adams (which looking at other offerings isn’t a betrayal or anything). We don’t think it’s needed and we’ve done some horrific interiors.

A coating is a different product than a spray and are formulated as such for their storage environments. A bottle of ceramic has to be kept tight to help prevent it from curing. The sprays are formulated to be tolerant of their environment. But for ease of application. It’s all about maintaining balance. A silica based top coat won’t harden with the top off. A coating will. They’re different formulas.

Congrats on the new ride. Everyone has you covered. If you do get any clogging a toothpick will clear them up. We use detailing type swabs available elsewhere. They’re inexpensive and have a little soft spot on the end of them!

One thing that seems to get forgotten is you can develop a haze when you really start to layer products. This is even more true when laying products with different bases (sealant is not silica based like “ceramic” products are). Many enthusiasts like to touch their cars and apply product to “make it shine.” The truth is that sometimes less really is more. Before adding more product, what protection is left? What layers are still there? Wax will disappear before a sealant as an example. Frequent use of some products allows them to build up and become more difficult to work with. It’s often brought up about streaking when using too much of a product in application. Frequent application creates the same effect. My daily driver and the wife’s daily drivers are both ceramic coated (with another product, not Adam’s for full disclosure) and admittedly don’t get washed as often as they should or could. I’ve applied a spray top coat to our vehicles once or twice since application and that’s in New England winter. They were coated in August and September of last year. A wash, clay and reapplication and they looked like we had just done them. The garage queen gets washed more often, but boosted less since it’s not driven often. It gets a top coat once a year. With waxes/sealants you need to do more frequent applications, but this should be measured in months. Not days. Don’t over complicate or overthink your processes. Make it easy on yourself and pick a set of products that work for you and stick with them. If you’re “ceramic based,” stick with them. If your traditional, stick with them. Don’t cross them over looking for a magic formula of shine. The real truth is that the gloss comes from how you finish your paint before ever applying protection. The other layers merely lock it in to with varying degree. Pick the products that fit with your style of maintaining your finish. If you’re hands on, go with products that will allow you to satisfy yourself. If you’re the “I just want to drive it” type, go with products that lend themselves to that goal. In the end you can spend a lot of money on products you don’t need or don’t fit your style and then drive yourself crazy trying to make them work for you. It’s needless stress.

You could use ceramic wax or ceramic spray. Using both probably provides little to no benefit. Thoughts on the process... Strip wash isn’t a necessary product unless you already have it. The process when done fully will remove any excess product on the paint. It won’t hurt to use a finishing polish either way. It’ll ensure a level clear coat before applying protection with minimal clear coat removal. Think of it as a good cleaner. Claimed durability between the ceramic wax and coating is similar. The wax is more forgiving to apply (no high spots). Ultimately the choice is yours, as protection will be similar between the two options.

It’s harder than clear coat. It’s not impervious to damage. Poor technique will damage any finish.

Adams coating isn’t too difficult to remove. If you use a polish, you’ll want to reapply the coating. They do make micro fine polishes, but Adams isn’t the most durable on the market (as are most consumer grade coatings). We give “Do Not Wash” hang tags to all coating clients from another source. They’re hard plastic and hang well.

Adams will work on vinyl, but thorough buffing is critical. If you buff it further does it improve or change at all? It’s hard to say if it’s a glaze issue or a coating issue. We typically use polish to remove excess coating as opposed to the brilliant glaze method. If the coating was fully cured (which I assume it was if you’re washing), I’d say this is a glaze issue. What did it look like after washing when it looked like that? Rewash. Buff. If that doesn’t work, I’d polish it out and reapply coating.

The guy we use usually starts around $100 and goes from there. I always send him pics so he can quote it. I don’t upcharge his work.

I don’t know who told you this, but it’s largely false information. If coatings could be removed by clay, nobody would ever use them for the time/effort/expense of installation. Claying a coating is a standard maintenance process for every coating we have worked with. Coating life spans are generally measured in years. They require maintenance. And they require care. They can become contaminated and do require cleaning. In fact, most coating “failures” aren’t failures at all but coatings that require maintenance. To remove the water spots, use a fine finishing polish and see if that clears it up. Adams is not the most durable coating out there (as are most consumer grade coatings, so I’m not singling them out). So aggressive working of polishes or aggressive ones will remove the coating. A quick pass of finishing polish should knock most of the issues down. Food for thought, in a product that spans years and forms a bond to paint it will take a mechanical abrasive process to remove. Most chemicals and soft products will have no removal effect (but can mar the finish if used incorrectly).

You can use a tar/adhesive remover. But do a test spot first. These things can be pretty harsh products and not all materials tolerate them well. if it’s a plastic type surface, it shouldn’t be an issue. The best residue remover we have is the tar/adhesive remover that we let sit for a few minutes then scrape with the plastic razor blade. Steam can be helpful to loosen the adhesive as well. But the chemicals work really well.

Hey guys! So it seems like the timing of this one isn’t working for people as there’s been no solid RSVP’s yet and work conflicts. We will reschedule this clinic later in the season if there’s interest! Sorry!

Try C2v3 which as your detailer/top agent. It plays very well with their coatings and should give you what you’re looking for.

It sounds like your truck needs a good clay bar decontamination. Anything sitting on a vehicle for a long time allows time for bonding. Coatings aren’t impossible to have things stick to them, they just make it harder. I’m guessing a little clay on it and it comes right back to life. Coatings aren’t maintenance free and this seems like a short time span for contamination, but sitting in an uncontrolled environment can certainly cause issues. Try clay and see what happens. Maybe I’ll write up a thing on reasonable expectations of last step products one of these days and how to best maintain them.

Thanks @8675309'SS We are actually an accredited GTechniq detailer, so we are very familiar with your coating. It’s a fantastic product. It’s actually the coating I have installed on our personal vehicles. You can use the products you listed on your coating, but I question the need in doing so. I would use the ceramic wash and the ceramic waterless as my two products if I had to pick. They are utilized in cleaning the surface which is critical to any ceramic coating. Your coating is applied in three layers. One base layer, and two top layers. This allows that top coat to be pulled off if it’s damaged/worn/etc and then reapplied. Ceramic coatings still require decontamination yearly (or more or less depending on usage and environment). One of the big benefits to ceramics is the need for less maintenance. In using a host of products and layering, you’re diminishing the benefit of the coating you paid good money to have installed. Should you have further questions, don’t be afraid to ask. GTechniq does offer some maintenance products but I won’t discuss them in the open forum out of respect for Adam’s who hosts this site for us all to share information on.

Ceramic Boost is easy to over apply. A little bit goes a long way. Generous application leads to streaking. Keep buffing with a soft microfiber to level the boost and pick up any excess. Literally you need a spray or two per panel (especially once the first panel or two is done and the towel is primed).

If you have the finishing polish already, skip the glaze. Polish it down with finishing polish, reapply coating, buff it off and move on. I’m skeptical about the claim of glaze on cured coating personally. If it will remove high spots once fully cured, what stops it from removing the coating completely? I get the concept of uncured or partially cured, but not a fully cured coating. That’s typically abrasion only. You can wax over a glaze. Glaze is a very short lifespan product. And while you can wax over a ceramic coating, I’d ask why? Is it just that you want an additional layer of protection? If so, have at it. In my opinion it’s not required and somewhat defeats the purpose of a coating which is commonly reduced maintenance (not maintenance free). So in short, some finishing polish on a microfiber or machine with a finishing pad, polish it down quick (literally won’t take long), reapply coating and level it. Live happy. That’s the quickest and easiest solution instead of trying things. This will work the first time.

Smear marks sound like high spots in the coating application. Try some brilliant glaze on it if it’s newly applied to see if that works, otherwise use some finishing polish to knock it down and reapply the coating.

You can polish them. They’re smooth and painted. It shouldn’t take much to correct them.

We do have some familiarity with interior coatings if you have questions. Don’t hesitate to ask!

If your belief was five years without touching it and that’s what you were lead to believe, it’s a flaw with your detailer. We make it very clear that they are not maintenance free. You can do the maintenance yourself, it’s not that difficult to do. It just needs to be done. Coating maintenance has more time between services. That’s the benefit. Well, one of. Besides the harder top costs and such. The list goes on. I feel a properly installed coating is worth the investment, but it has to be an informed decision.

No more than a standard detail package. We don’t charge them an upcharge to reinstall the top layer of a product they already paid for. I can’t in good faith ask a client for a large sum of money to install the product initially and say you have to bring it back to me yearly so I can charge you all over again. At that point it seems like a money grab. The process of washing, iron and clay happens anyway when we get a car. 99% of our jobs involve at least a light finish polish. At that point it’s not significantly longer for us to reapply a top coat. The top coat we work with is forgiving and we are experienced in its application so two of us can get it done without significantly increasing the time of the appointment for a client. Most top layers we reinstall are done with remnants from initial application. With this process you can see our increased cost of maintenance is minimal, as such I don’t feel comfortable inflating the cost to a client. It’s not how we do business. We are making money on the service regardless. The least we can do is to do it right. That being said if someone comes in with a trashed finish on a coated vehicle, the costs get passed on. In exchange for our policy we expect at least a minimum level of care for your vehicle when it’s not with us. Hopefully that clears up any confusion.

What is it exactly you’re trying to accomplish? Then we can make recommendations.